August 12, 2007 - Lights in the Night Welcome to the Nature Notebook. Each August Earth passes through the debris of comet Swift-Tuttle. Small particles enter our atmosphere and put on a bright show of lights in the night. Many people consider this Perseid meteor shower with its fast, bright meteors to be the year’s best when seen under a dark sky. And this year’s new moon will provide excellent viewing conditions for the shower. Look low in the northeast beginning about 10 p.m. tonight for the apparent source of the shooting stars. By midnight this point will be well up in the northeast and highest overhead just before dawn tomorrow. For best viewing, find a dark site, lay back on the ground or a lawn chair and look up. Let your eyes adapt to the dark and with clear skies, the Perseid’s bright streaks in the night will provide natural fireworks. This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.